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Is Gillhams suitable for young anglers?

Question:

Hi Stuart,

My wife contacted you previously about arranging for a day of fishing for myself and our two boys. The boys are 9 years old and avid fisherman. My only question after looking at your website is whether there is fishing that is appropriate for young kids? Can we target fish that they are more likely able to reel in? While I know they would be excited to see big fish, they could not reel in the huge fish shown on your website.

The related question is how steady is the fishing action usually (always an important question for kids). I know that is a tough question, but I’m just trying to understand whether this is like some trophy fishing I’ve seen (where 1 or 2 bites all day is considered good), or whether because the lake is stocked and managed, more action is typically expected.

Thanks,
Steve.

Stuart’s answer:

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for your email; we do have young children who fish here and can handle the big fish, only you would know your kids capabilities. We have one young lad who has fished here since he was 7 years old he is still only 10 and comes regularly with his father, this lad has landed fish to 300lb here.

We have had 14 year olds who cannot handle the size of fish here; even some adults can’t handle them! On the other scale our oldest client is 94 and still handling huge fish!

You can target smaller fish here but for sure big fish will also get hooked, there is no way of singling out small fish. Regarding catching lots of fish, this is the wrong place Gillhams was designed for the dedicated big fish angler; we have some of the biggest fish in the world and have a good head of fish.

We target the specialist angler market who wish to catch big healthy fish in scenic surroundings, our fish continue to grow and stay healthy by living in the perfect environment with an abundance of natural food.

This makes the fishing here a challenge and the more effort you put in the higher the catch rate. An average day here is around four fish, you can catch 10 or more on a good day and up to 20 on a red letter day. The good side with our fishery is that your catch will include big fish and every day huge fish are landed.

Their are many overstocked waters in Thailand with smaller and starving fish suffering from malnutrition, here you will catch many fish in a day because they are starving and in very poor condition.
There is a huge market for this kind of easy fishing, but it is not a market we ever wish to get into.

Hopefully I have covered your question fairly and honestly, should you decide to try and have any further questions please feel free to ask.